Abstract
A more complete two-dimensional vertical numerical model has been developed to describe the saltwater intrusion in an estuary. The model is based on the previous studies in order to obtain a better accuracy. The non-linear terms of the governing equations are analyzed and the $\sigma$-coordinate system is employed in the vertical direction with full transformation which is recently issued in several studies because numerical errors can be generated during the coordinate transformation of the diffusion term. The advection terms of the governing equations are discretized by an upwind scheme in second-order of accuracy. By employing an explicit scheme for the longitudinal direction and an implicit scheme for the vertical direction, the numerical model is free from the restriction of temporal step size caused by a relatively small grid ratio. In previous researches, some terms induced from the transformation have been intentionally excluded since they are asked the complicate discretization of the numerical model. However, the lack of these terms introduces significant errors during the numerical simulation of scalar transport problems, such as saltwater intrusion and sediment transport in an estuary. The numerical accuracy attributable to the full transformation is verified by comparing results with a previous model in a simply sloped topography. The numerical model is applied to the Han River estuary. Very reasonable agreements for salinity intrusion are observed.
